incoming…
..................behind the needle cover
..................flying below the radar of belief
..................the colour of greyhounds
..................wingtips brushing the brown iron water

..................thhhh-wauup
..................thhhh-wauup
..................thhhh-wauup

..................like giant wind turbines
..................stunning the canyon silence

..................their bodies built for solar flight
..................long thin bone straight

........two great grey blue herons

down cupping and upcurling in avian pas de deux
swaying to the canyon's wind silhouette

..................thhhh-wauup
..................thhhh-wauup
..................thhhh-wauup

veering close to the
..................lichen bearded
..................granite browed
..................worn face of a cooled planet
..................sunk deep and dark into the flowing

..................thhhh-wauup
..................thhhh-wauup
..................thhhh-wauup

the canyon scene
appearing stock image perfect
but needing the heated strokes of an ancient Japanese brushstroke
..................to capture the fluidity
..................the black and white of curlicue wings
..................starkly set in river glare
..................weaving between
..................deep shadow wedges of the unsunned shore
..................and the tree ruffled cliff

..................thhhh-wauup
..................thhhh-wauup
..................thhhh-wauup

suddenly
..................the thinning sound trail becoming
..................a rasping echo

..................squawking as harshly as the pterodactyls they invoke

..................wraaack
..................WRRaaach
..................wrack

revealing in black angled sounds
surprising let go and push back thoughts

..................wrAAch
..................wrrrraach
..................WraCH

but impenetrable in relationship
they weave on

..................thhhh-wauup
..................thhhh-wauup
..................thhhh-wauup

..................until around the bend
..................the canyon returned to its birthright...

..................unabashed brochure perfection